Community Corrections Officer Thomas Pusey demonstrates how an ankle bracelet is put on and used to track home detention inmates at the Wicomico Detention Center in Salisbury.

Written by

Vanessa Junkin
Staff Writer

The cost of having someone incarcerated at the Wicomico County Detention Center is a little more than $20,000 a year, according to WCDC Director George Kaloroumakis.

And no matter what medical issue an inmate may have - cancer, needing a pacemaker, pregnancy complications - WCDC is compelled by the Constitution to foot the bill if the inmate doesn't have insurance, he said. And the majority don't.

If an inmate can be placed on home detention instead, the cost per year is a fraction of that - a couple thousand dollars, he said. So when that option presents itself, it is considered. ...